Halloween Reads III: Trick or Treat

This is the third edition of Halloween reads, a sequel to Halloween Reads and Halloween Reads II: The Re-Ordering. I tried to have a theme to my previous posts and the theme of these can best be described mind candy: relaxing treats that you can read to keep you in the Halloween spirit since the holiday falls in the middle of week this year.

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde, book 1 of the Chronicles of Kazam
The Thursday Next series was recently covered in the Reader's Den blog posts, and I haven't read enough of his work to be able to comment on all of it, but I can say that this novel is a great place to start if you haven't read any Jasper Fforde before. The Last Dragonslayer focuses on 15-year old Jennifer Strange, who works at a magical employment agency. The humor throughout is very British and reminiscent of Douglas Adams, but the alternate reality Fforde creates, the Ununited Kingdoms, is fresh and original. Children and teens (as well as adults) may very well enjoy this book.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
I've heard a few people complain about this cover art, and say that the UK cover of the red door is nicer. However, the mask theme is fitting for Halloween, and I happen to like the Days of Blood and Starlight cover. Author Laini Taylor often sports hot pink hair and is married to illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, who has done many lovely color illustrations for her series.

The books of Kristen Painter
Forget everything you know about epic vampire stories. Kristen Painter puts a new spin on things with her series, which includes ghosts, comarré (a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility), and metallic tattoo markings that are both significant and powerful. Her books fall under the urban fantasy genre, which sounds awkward but has produced a lot of fun, unique fiction titles in the past few years. Start with Blood Rights and see if you don't want to keep reading the whole series.

Technomancer (Unspeakable Things #1) by B.V. Larsen
Quentin Draith, the protagonist of this new series has more in common with hardboiled detectives of comic books like John Constantine, Hellblazer than with William Gibson's Neuromancer, as the title might suggest. He interacts with creatures from other dimensions using creepy magical totems.